Star Trek: Final Frontier 01: Alexandria
by rylansato
Summary: Captain Jermaine Allensworth on his first mission as captain of the Starship Alexandria heads to the Gamma Quadrant to explore when they encounter an Omega molecule as well as some unexpected guests that are doing some experiments of their own.
1. Chapter 1

_Author's Note: These stories are a rewrite of my Odyssey series. Some stories will be combined or slightly altered. Some characters have been slightly altered from their Odyssey counterparts. However, most things will remain the same. I will keep Odyssey on the site because some people seem to like it._

Star Trek: Final Frontier

Alexandria

The air was perfect for baseball in Boston, Massachusetts. It was a steady 75 degrees with the sun shining down on the field. The Boston Red Sox were facing the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Red Sox were up 7-3 at the beginning of the ninth. The crowd was ecstatic, with the exception of the few Pirates fans present. One of those fans was sitting with annoyed look on his face because the Pirates were down by four runs. His friend was standing up and cheered on the Red Sox.

They both wore the standard Starfleet uniform, all black with gray shoulders and the yellow colored Operations division turtleneck underneath. They both wore lieutenant commander pips on their collars. The one standing, Alex Merriell, looked down at his friend, Dustin Zofchak.

"You don't look like you're enjoying the game," he said.

"I was until two innings ago when Pittsburgh gave up its three run lead."

Alex and Dustin first met years ago when Alex was serving on the USS Farragut and it had served as part of a rescue unit for the Enterprise-D crash survivors on Veridian III. Dustin was one of the survivors.

Both were offered promotions when asked to join the crew of the newly built USS Alexandria. Dustin was at first hesitant about leaving the Enterprise-E but he felt it was time to move on and grow as the crew of the Enterprise was changing after the battle with the Scimitar two months ago. He was now chief engineer of the Alexandria and Alex was now second officer and the Operations officer.

The Pirates had two on base with one out. Dustin stood up in time to see the Pittsburgh batter knock it out of the park. The score was now 7-6. Dustin clapped and cheered. The stadium had quieted now that the score was now close and the Red Sox victory was no longer certain. The next batter stood at the plate and readied himself for the pitch. The pitcher threw a fastball and the batter swung, nailing the ball and sent it deep into left field.

Suddenly the players, the fans and the field all shimmered out of existence. Dustin and Alex looked around with confused looks on their faces surrounded by the walls of the holosuite.

"What the hell?" Alex said.

A voice came over the intercom. "Your time is now up. Vacate the holosuite for the next patron."

"I knew we should have used the ship's holodeck," Dustin said. "Quark charges too much to use the holosuite. Now we'll never know who won that game."

The two lieutenant commanders walked out of the room and into Quark's Bar. There were many other Starfleet personnel occupying the room, most of which were part of the Alexandria crew. They saw Amanda Plumley, chief medical officer aboard the Alexandria and Christine Nycz, the ship's counselor. The two were playing darts. Christine and Dustin graduated from the academy together and were close friends in those days.

"Ladies," Dustin said. "How about a game between guys and girls?"

The two women looked at each other and shrugged. "You're on, Commander," Plumley said. "Loser buys the next round."

Captain Jermaine Allensworth sat in the crew lounge aboard the USS Thunderchild. The ship was currently at warp heading to Deep Space Nine where he would take on his new assignment as captain of the USS Alexandria. Across from him was Captain Blaine Stork of the Thunderchild.

"Have you gotten used to that fourth pip yet, Jermaine?"

Allensworth reached up and ran a finger across the four pips on his collar and smiled. "No, not yet."

"I must admit, I'm a bit envious," Stork said.

"Why's that?"

"You are getting to command one of the Sovereigns. Don't get me wrong, I like the Thunderchild. She's a good ship but Akira class starships don't have the firepower or overall scope that Sovereign class ships do."

Allensworth smiled. "Just lucky I guess."

Stork nodded in agreement as he took a sip of his raktajino. He felt his combadge vibrate and heard the chirp a half of a second later. "Stull to Captain Stork."

Stork tapped his combadge. "Go ahead."

"We're entering the Bajoran system and will be approaching Deep Space Nine in a few minutes."

"Slow to impulse. I'm on my way," he said before tapping his combadge to end the communication. "Care to join me on the bridge to get a look at your ship?"

"Sure thing," Allensworth said getting up.

The two captains stepped off of the turbolift and onto the bridge. Lieutenant Commander Stull stood up from the center seat as Stork approached. On the screen was the Cardassian built Deep Space Nine. The former Cardassian space station that was once position in orbit above Bajor now took residence in the Denorios Belt, only a thousand kilometers from the event horizon of the wormhole after the Cardassians withdrew from the station and Starfleet took control. It gained fame during the Dominion War that lasted for two years. Allensworth was spared the horrors of that war by being stuck in the Delta Quadrant with the rest of Voyager's crew.

As the Thunderchild neared the station, Allensworth's attention was on the ship docked at one of the upper pylons of the station. The USS Alexandria, NCC-2547.

Allensworth and Stork beamed aboard Deep Space Nine. Allensworth needed to speak with Colonel Kira and Captain Stork wanted to have a drink at Quark's to "properly" welcome Allensworth into what he called the "Captain's Club."

Allensworth stepped into Kira's office. The office hasn't changed much since the days when Captain Sisko was in command of the station. Kira had adorned the office with Bajoran decorations, a fit of irony considering what the station was used for when it was built and who controlled it then. Allensworth noticed a baseball was displayed on the desk. He didn't take Kira to be a baseball fan but if memory served, Sisko was a huge fan of baseball, particularly of Buck Bokai and the London Kings. Kira stepped around the desk and shook his hand with a smile. She sensed a familiar aura about Allensworth. We she first looked up when he entered, she had originally thought that Sisko had returned from the Prophets. She had to do a double take to be sure that it was Allensworth and not Sisko. Aside from the same skin color, Jermaine resembled Sisko in various ways such hair style, that being shaved and sporting a goatee. He also presented an aura of confidence that was similar to that of her previous commanding officer.

"Welcome to Deep Space Nine, Captain. Congratulations on your promotion."

"Thank you, Colonel, if you want to call it that," Allensworth said with a sly grin. Kira let out a small laugh.

"I understand you'll be traveling into the Gamma Quadrant for your first assignment as captain."

Allensworth nodded. "Yeah, I think it will be good for the Alexandria to stretch her legs over there. Which is what I came to talk to you about. This is my first time in the Gamma Quadrant and I would like your advice."

"Well...be wary of the Dominion, especially of the Jem'Hadar. The war has been over for five years and even though they have to abide by the rules set by the Treaty of Bajor, they still like to be a little aggressive towards other species. The Vorta do well honoring the treaty but there have been cases where Jem'Hadar have rebelled against their Vorta commanders. To my knowledge, no battles have occurred but nevertheless be on your guard around them. To be honest, I haven't been over there too often since I took command of the station. Is your mission just standard patrol and exploration?"

"Yeah. I'm not complaining though. I was assigned to Voyager and we all know how its first mission went. I'll be completely satisfied with exploring a planet or two and charting gaseous anomalies."

Zofchak and Merriell continued their game against Nycz and Plumley, to which they were losing...badly. Zofchak threw a dart and hit a spot that wasn't exactly in his favor. Nycz and Plumley smiled at their apparent victory.

"We can do one more throw," Nycz said. "Double or nothing. Whomever hits the bulls eye first and you can go first."

Zofchak glanced at Merriell who held up his hands in surrender.

"Don't look at me," I've been playing poorly all night."

Zofchak let the conditions float around in his head for a few more seconds before looking at Christine. "Sure, why not?"

Zofchak took a stance, holding up the dart with his left hand which Alex thought was strange because Dustin was right handed.

"Uh Dustin, are you going to shoot left handed all night?"

Dustin smiled and repositioned himself. "What would I do without you?" He tossed the dart and hit the bulls eye much to the surprise of Nycz and Plumley. The group walked over to the bar just as station counselor Lieutenant Commander Ezri Dax and station security chief Ro Laren walked into the bar.

"I always found Ezri Dax to be a rather cute," Zofchak said. "There is this sense of adorableness to her but she's also sexy."

"I agree," Alex said. "Plus she's a Trill and I would like to see how far down those spots go."

Nycz turned to Plumley. "Can't they see that we're right here?"

Dustin and Alex turned back around to their shipmates.

"Don't give me that, Christine," Dustin said. "There were days at the academy that you'd say the same thing in front of me to your female friends."

"But we weren't an official couple then," she replied.

"And we aren't now," Dustin shot back. "We're just colleagues with a past."

"And there is our new captain," Plumley said. The other three turned their attention to the door as Allensworth stepped into the bar and made his way over to Captain Stork.

"I think he looks like Captain Sisko," Zofchak said.

"I never met Captain Sisko," Nycz said.

"I met him a few times. The first when the Enterprise was docked here in sixty-nine when Sisko first took command of DS Nine and a few times during the war. Nice guy."

Christine picked up something in Dustin's voice as he mentioned the war. It was as though he was reminded of something. Zofchak downed his drink and set it on the bar.

"Well if the captain is here then that means I should head back to the ship and make sure she's ready when he is."

Christine watched him walk off. She suspected there was something more than needing to make last minute checks aboard the ship.

After being "officially accepted" into the Captain's Club, Allensworth materialized on the transporter pad aboard the Alexandria. As the room came into view, Allensworth saw the transporter chief behind the controls and his first officer standing near the transporting pad.

"Commander Jason Sparhawk," Allensworth said extending a hand out to him. Sparhawk shook the hand of his new commanding officer.

"Welcome aboard, sir." Sparhawk said. "If you follow me, I'll show you to your quarters."

"Lead on, Commander."

"Lieutenant Commander Zofchak reports the ship is ready for departure," Sparhawk said as he kept his eyes on their location. He wanted to make sure that he didn't pass up his captain's quarters while leading him there. It would be nothing short of embarrassment. Luckily, Sparhawk had memorized the location of the Captain's quarters for this situation but he feared his slight anxiety of wanting to make a good first impression would impede his clear thinking. After turning down another corridor, they reached their destination.

Allensworth took several hesitant steps into the dark room before him. Nothing was visible to him except the stars out the plethora of windows along the back wall. The room was several degrees below standard, the air was stale, and given the haunting echo that followed his every footstep, it was probably empty.

"Computer, lights," Commander Sparhawk called out from amidst the darkness.

Within seconds, the quiet whoosh of power feeding the lighting system filled the air, followed promptly by the aforementioned illumination. When the lights finally reached maximum luminosity, Allensworth held back the reaction of allowing his jaw to drop in awe.

"Are you sure this is the right room?"

Sparhawk was a little surprised by the question. "Why? Is something wrong?"

Allesnworth nodded negatively. "No," he said slowly. "It's just a bit larger than I had anticipated," he admitted after a moment.

"Thank you, Commander. These quarters will do just fine. Definitely bigger than my previous quarters."

"I'm glad you like them, sir."

Allensworth stepped closer to the window. The view was magnificent. As he peered out the large window, he could see several other ships that were either docked at the station or circling it. A few of them were Federation starships, one of which was the Thunderchild. He only knew it was the Thunderchild because that was the only Akira-class ship here at the moment. He didn't know the name of the Excelsior class ship that was also circling the station. He would need a computer to identify it.

"Here is the duty roster for all four duty shifts," Sparhawk said as he handed Allensworth a PADD.

"Excellent," Allensworth said as he took a glace at the PADD before turning his attention back to his first officer. "I will officially take command in one hour. Thank you, Commander. That will be all."

Sparhawk smiled and nodded before leaving. The doors slid shut as Allensworth looked around his new home, taking it all in.


	2. Chapter 2

_Captain's Log: Stardate: 57165.9: I have officially taken command of the Alexandria and we have left Deep Space Nine, currently exploring the Gamma Quadrant. I am looking forward to see what this quadrant has to offer as this is my first time to the Gamma Quadrant. While it __does__ hold its own unique mysteries and dangers, I feel it may not compare to those __I experienced during my seven years__ in the Delta Quadrant. _

"I can't believe you wouldn't let me explore Deep Space Nine, Papa," Kennedy said as she looked up at Zofchak as they walked side by side in the corridors of the Alexandria.

"DS Nine's promenade is not a place for an twelve year old girl to be running around by herself," Dustin said.

"I was really looking forward to walking around the station. It's a lot different than the other Federation starbases."

Dustin looked down at his daughter, whose facial features strongly resembled her mother's. Kennedy's eyes and hair color seemed to be the only thing she got from her father."I'll tell you what, when we return from the Gamma Quadrant, I'll ask Colonel Kira if it will be okay to take you on a tour of Deep Space Nine." Kennedy nodded seeming to like the idea. The two reached their quarters and they walked inside. Zofchak stood near the door as Kennedy walked over to the couch.

"Papa, is it a good idea to be exploring the Gamma Quadrant? I mean, that's where the Dominion is and I don't want to run into them."

Zofchak chuckled. "I know you don't like them and I don't blame you but they don't own the quadrant, Kennedy. The Federation explored the Gamma Quadrant for two years before running into the Dominion so it's not as though the wormhole opens up in their living room. There are many races in the Gamma Quadrant that are not part of the Dominion and the Ferengi have established trade agreements with some of them. Compare this with your old Earth history. The Dominion telling us to stay out of the Gamma Quadrant is the same as North Korea telling the United States to stay out of the Yellow Sea or the Sea of Japan. They have no jurisdiction to tell us that."

"That makes sense," Kennedy said.

"I have to go on duty now so stay out of trouble until I get back."

"So does that mean I can get into trouble when you come back?" Kennedy said with a smirk.

Zofchak mirrored the smirk. "Of course," he said before walking out of the room.

Counselor Nycz walked onto the bridge, heading to her seat that was positioned to the left of the center seat. After noticing Zofchak was standing at the bridge engineering console, she altered her direction slightly to approach him. She was concerned about him and wanted to know more as to why he really left the bar. Zofchak entered a few commands into his PADD and then pressed a few buttons on the console when he felt a presence near him. While there were many people on the bridge and the closest officer to him was M'Ress, the Caitian communications officer that was originally assigned to Kirk's Enterprise but had been pulled into the 24th century through some sort of temporal anomaly. Dustin surmised the presence was someone else. He turned his head to see Nycz was next to him.

"Is there something I can help you with, Counselor?"

"Possibly," she said. "Maybe you can help me with what really caused you to leave the bar earlier."

"As I told you before, I had to make sure the ship was ready to go," he said directing his gaze at his console as he pressed more buttons.

"There's more to it than that," Christine said. "You..."

Dustin rested his hands on the console and shot Christine an annoyed look. "If you know there is more to it then how about you tell me what it is," he snapped.

Christine took that as a sign that she was right about her assumptions but she wasn't going to be able to help Dustin unless he wanted it. She decided to back off and proceed to her chair without saying anything further.

Alex Merriell sat at his Ops console going over sensor data. To his right was one of the ship's navigators, Kit Moran. She was a smaller framed girl with hair that was a short as a Romulan's hair style. His attention to Kit's physique came to an abrupt end when the ship shook and a series of beeping came from his console. He entered various commands to find out that sensors had just logged an anomalous reading.

"What is it, Alex?" Allensworth asked.

"Sir, sensors are picking up some sort of anomaly in the nearby Mirai System. It is preventing us from maintaining a stable warp field."

"I'm boosting power to the inertial dampeners to compensate," Zofchak said.

"Helm, set a course," Allensworth said. "This is why we're out here."

"We've entered the Mirai System, sir," Moran reported.

"Slow to impulse."

Ahead of the ship was the third planet and beyond the planet was a giant green and pink swirling nebula looking anomaly. Allensworth rose from his chair and slowly walked towards the viewscreen.

"Mister Merriell, scan the anomaly to see if this is in fact the source of the trouble."

Merriell pressed a few buttons and then his console went dead. Suddenly, the ship slowed to a halt and the computer locked out every console. The sound of the systems powering down could be heard all throughout the bridge.

"Report."

"Engines just shut themselves off," Zofchak reported. "I can't figure out why."

"Sir," Merriell said. "The computer has locked us out of our consoles and are showing an Omega."

"On my first mission as captain? You have got to be kidding me," Allensworth said to himself with a sigh.


	3. Chapter 3

"Computer, lock the ready room doors," Allensworth said as the doors had slid shut. The computer beeped to acknowledge the command. Jermaine sat at his desk and looked at the screen of his desk terminal. "Override all computer lockouts, authorization Allensworth eight-four-echo-gamma. Establish communication link with Starfleet Command."

"UNABLE TO COMPLY!"

Jermaine looked a bit confused. "What? Which part?"

"UNABLE TO ESTABLISH COMMUNICATION LINK TO STARFLEET COMMAND!"

"Reason?"

"SUBSPACE INTERFERENCE!"

Allensworth massaged the bridge of his nose and let out a sigh. His nose didn't need a massage but it was a habit to show annoyance and he was really annoyed.

_First day as captain and I'm already breaking protocol._

He stood up and walked out of his ready room just as a series of beeps caught his attention from Ops. "What is it, Alex?"

"Sensors have just detected multiple warp signatures entering the system."

"Who is it? Can you tell from here?"

Alex stared at his display for a few moments waiting for the data to gather. All he could determine at this point was that one was a warship and the other was a smaller support craft. Finally the computer gave him his answer.

"The Breen."

"What are they doing here?" Allensworth asked. "Their space is a good distance away from the wormhole, not to mention in the Alpha Quadrant."

Alex figured the question was rhetorical but he still thought about answering it however he didn't have any real answer to give. If the Breen were attempting to expand the Confederacy, why not do it closer to their own territory. Two ships didn't constitute an invasion force.

"Last interaction with the Breen was the Dominion War," Alex said. "After the war, they retreated to their own territory and kept quiet."

"And now, five years later, they suddenly appear in the Gamma Quadrant of all places," Allensworth said.

After all of the encounters with them, we still having nothing to go on when it comes to them other than they can get hostile with outsiders," Zofchak said. "They aren't as reclusive as the Tholians but at least we know what a Tholian looks like."

"And we even know this area of space even less," Allensworth said.

"Except for something screwed with our sensors and showed us an Omega," Fulks said.

"I'm also curious as to why that happened," Allensworth said.

"A mysterious enemy and a mysterious Omega," Sparhawk said.

"What do we know about this area?" Allensworth asked.

Merriell pressed more buttons. "A five planet system with the third planet being M-class."

"The computer locked us out when we scanned the anomaly," Sparhawk said.

"I didn't even get a full reading before that happened," Merriell said.

"Scan it again," Allensworth said. "You'll be able to get a full reading this time without being locked out."

Merriell's attention was on his console as his fingers dashed across it. Allensworth saw a look of disarray fall across the second officer's face.

"There is too much interference coming from the anomaly. We may have to get closer," Alex suggested. "I am picking up strange readings from the surface of the planet. I'm also picking up a structure where the source of the readings are located. I'm not detecting in lifesigns in the structure or anywhere near it. It appears to be abandoned."

"Then I suppose we'll start there," Allensworth said.

"Jason," Allensworth said turning around. "I want you to take an away team down to the surface and investigate. If someone down there is creating an Omega molecule down there then we have to destroy it."

Sparhawk rose from his seat and headed for the turbolift, pointing to Zofchak to join them. Fulks and Merriell left their stations without being told, knowing that it was standard procedure for the second officer and security chief to join the away team.

"Doctor Plumley, meet us in transporter room two," Sparhawk said.

Mirai Three was nothing like Commander Sparhawk had imagined. Upon hearing their beam-down location to be on the northern continent, thoughts of a desolate, frigid glacier crossed his mind.

He was mildly surprised when a crisp, cool breeze rushed across the rocky terrain and greeted his skin. The terrain was more of a desert than anything else. A few disconsolate trees dotted the terrain amidst a field of untamed brown and yellow grasses, but for the most part, they walked upon nothing but sheer dirt and rock along the edge of a small ridge. The sky was filled with melancholy clouds that seemed to meander endlessly through the atmosphere. The few breaks in the overcast conditions revealed a drab blue firmament hiding behind them.  
"Nice place." Sparhawk mused as he started surveying the area with his tricorder.  
The building they were looking for was right in front of them. They cautiously approached the door, what was left of it.  
Zofchak held his tricorder out in front of him as he slowly moved it through the air. "I'm picking up traces of an explosion related to an omega molecule, which would explain the state this place is in."

"If this has any relation to that omega symbol we saw on the consoles then we must be dealing with something big," Merriell said.

"I just wish I knew more about this omega that has the captain worried," Sparhawk said.

The five of them entered the building and just as they predicted, the insides was also in ruins. Breen bodies were strewn around the room, some in better shape than others but still dead.

"It looks like whatever they were working on blew up in their faces," Zofchak said.

"Sir," Fulks said. "We could use this time to study Breen physiology and actually see what they look like."

"I would expect that suggestion to come from the doctor," Sparhawk said.

"To be honest, sir, I was hoping to catch a glimpse at what they look like and I was using that as an excuse and maybe get her to go with it as well."

"Good plan, but no," Jason said. "We are to investigate what happened here and report back. There are two Breen ships headed our way so we don't have much time."

"Sir," Merriell said. "I've just picked up several Breen lifesigns nearby?"

"Survivors?"

"No, they beamed down."

"That means the ships are in orbit. Where are they?"

"They're outside the compound to the southeast."

"We should get out of here before they show up. Who knows what they'll do if they find us here and all of these bodies," Jason said. He tapped his combadge to signal the ship but the he didn't hear the usual chirp after he tapped it. "Sparhawk to Alexandria." He knew something was up.

"Maybe there is a dampening field in the building," Fulks said.

"I'd imagine it would have been destroyed in the explosion," Sparhawk said. "I bet those Breen know we're in here so they're jamming our signal. We have to get out of here. Let's go."

A disruptor blast hit the ground near the away team as they came out of the structure. The officers ducked for cover around the Alexandria. Plumley ducked back through the entry hatch while the other four took cover behind large rocks and panels sticking out of the ship. They looked up to the top of the cliff where they had first arrived to see seven Breen standing there with weapons aimed at them. The Starfleet away team drew their own phasers. Sparhawk slightly looked over the edge of the rock and fired. The blast of fiery orange energy sailed toward the Breen's position, but to Sparhawk's dismay, the target stepped aside before being hit. Once the blast had passed him, the target returned the favor, blasting off a small chunk of the rock in front of Sparhawk.

Breen ships coming about," Perim reported from the helm. "Bearing one-one-eight, mark four."

"Red alert," Allensworth snapped. He turned to the Trill as the red alert klaxon began to sound. "What about the away team?"

She hastily accessed sensors. "I'm picking up seven Breen lifesigns on the surface near they away team. They seem to have set up some sort of dampening field. We can't get a lock on them"

Allensworth frowned and turned his attention back to the view screen. Both Breen ships were rapidly approaching, looking like a duo straight from hell. It was a sight that sent chills down Allensworth's spine.

"They're locking weapons," Perim said.

"Evasive maneuvers, Ensign."

The Trill hastily complied, and the Alexandria swerved out of the way just as the Breen's energy weapon hurtled at the ship. They experienced only a minor rumbling as the pulse skimmed their shields, but neither vessel was deterred. The smaller of the two hastily stormed past the Alexandria while the larger warship came to a dramatic halt directly in front of them.

"They're hailing us," Perim reported.

"Took them long enough," Allensworth muttered. He quickly inspected his uniform for any aberrations before bringing himself to his feet. "On screen."

Moments later, the mysterious image of a Breen thot appeared on the view screen. Unable to see beneath the refrigeration unit, Allensworth had no idea what the Breen was about to say or do, and so, he simply placed a diplomatic smile upon his face.

"This is Captain Jermaine Allensworth of the Federation Starship Alexandria. You have stranded five of my officers, threatened my ship and are way outside your territory. Why?"

The Breen seemed to stare back at him for several moments, as if the questions were so stupid they did not require an answer. But finally, the Thot barked out a series of cryptic, nearly incomprehensible bleeps that were the Breen language.

Allensworth sighed. "Thot Lor," he said patiently. "We're not leaving without our people."

The Breen provided yet another series of remarks, this time they were louder, and sounded more clipped.

"Your actions warrant a war with the Federation. Is that what you want?"

The Breen chirped out one simple blurb.

"I didn't think so. Perhaps if you return our crewmen and tell me what it is you're looking for, we can reach a peaceful end to this situation," Allensworth proposed.

Lor's eyepiece fluttered with green light. He emitted a series of stern, strident bleeps before slamming his fist on the console before him, effectively ending the communication.


	4. Chapter 4

The Alexandria away team was eventually overrun by the Breen forces. Following their surrender, the Breen simply brought the five to the hill top, erected the forcefield around them, and continued to work on something as if nothing had happened.

"I wonder what they want with us?" Plumley whispered to the others as she watched the Breen peck away at the controls on their mini-computer. Slowly, she locked eyes with the others.

While the Fulks, Merriell and Sparhawk seemed as baffled as she, the wide eyes of Dustin Zofchak sparked more than a little concern.

"I'm not sure," he whispered, "but the Breen might be attempting to fabricate some Ketracel White." The chief engineer said.

Sparhawk suddenly knew why Zofchak's eyes were so wide. Ketracel White was most often associated with one of the most lethal killing forces ever encountered by the Federation: the Jem'Hadar.

"Are you certain?" He asked.

"Before the Breen…'borrowed' my tricorder, I detected trace amounts of yridium bicantizine in the soil, as well as several other compounds necessary to create White," he explained quietly. "My best guess is that's what the Breen have been hiding and the reason they're here."

"Why would the Breen want Ketracel White?" Merriell inquired, perhaps louder than Sparhawk would have preferred given the circumstances. Sparhawk watched as the words he most feared rolled off from Zofchak's tongue,

"To create a Jem'Hadar."

"But the Dominion cloning facilities were all destroyed after the war," Fulks countered.

"Did you personally oversee the destruction of every facility? Who knows how many secret installations were left in tact," Zofchak whispered. "Besides, what's stopping the Breen from creating new facilities? They had access to all of the Dominion's computer databases for several months. I'm sure there's a recipe for Jem'Hadar leftover somewhere."

"Given the extremely minimal data we have on the Breen, I'd say that there's a fair chance of that," Sparhawk concurred.

Suddenly, one of the Breen turned his attention away from his work and consulted rather loudly with his companions. With his, and the other's comm badges in the clutches of the Breen, Sparhawk had no idea what the Breens' strident conversing meant. In this case, actions speak louder than words.

And the Breen certainly started to take action. Several moments later, two Breen marched over to the forcefield and lowered it. Sparhawk watched quietly as the Breen slowly protruded into their makeshift cell and reached for Dustin Zofchak.

Quickly, Merriell lashed out against the offending Breen in an attempt to prevent Zofchak's abduction, but he quickly found himself on the ground, and Zofchak being dragged away. Before he could get up, the remaining Breen pointed his weapon at the other three and, without hesitation, fired.

Seeing that resistance was hopeless, Merriell closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable. A few moments later, it came.

Zofchak wasn't sure if their refrigeration units were responsible or not, but the Breen were most definitely a lot stronger than they appeared. In fact, the grip the Breen had around his chest was so tight, that Zofchak found it difficult to breathe.

"What do you want?" he rasped, despite the pain.

The Breen violently dropped Zofchak down in the lone chair beside the computer and screeched a few short, clipped tones. But before he could even get into a marginally comfortable position, another Breen had already started to probe Zofchak with some sort of medical device. He poked and prodded for several minutes before finally burrowing the device deep in Dustin's spine. Zofchak felt it penetrate several vertebrae before he stopped feeling anything at all. He willed himself to move, but nothing happened. He couldn't even move his neck.

As his panicked state grew, Zofchak watched in horror as the Breen began probing him again. It was much shorter in duration this time, and not painful, presumably because of the probe imbedded into Zofchak's spine. Nevertheless, it was thoroughly unpleasant. As the Breen 'medic' finished, he slowly brought his head down to Zofchak's and stared at him for several moments. Unable to look away, Zofchak simply stared back at the green lights scrolling across the Breen's helmet where the eyes should be. For a brief moment, he thought he could see something beyond the green lights… an eye, maybe two…or three, four or five for that matter. But an instant later, the Breen looked away. He tapped a button on his uniform, and moments later, both he and Zofchak beamed away.

As Zofchak opened his eyes, he realized that he had not been beamed back to the Alexandria. In fact, it was far worse. He was now on the Breen ship. It was a dark, ominous interior, accented by a mysterious green aura that seemed to emanate from the walls. The transporter chamber they were in was extremely small, consisting of nothing but the transporter pad and the control station, only a few meters apart. And as his Breen companion shoved him toward the doors, Zofchak noticed a few other things, the restoration of his motor functions, among other things. But the most intriguing bit was the fact that the Breen ship was not the frigid icebox one would expect of the Breen. In fact, it was rather comfortable, yet the Breen still wore refrigeration suits. For a moment, Dustin considered the notion that it was to accommodate him, but then he quickly realized the Breen weren't that nice. There was another reason. Rather violently, the Breen shoved Zofchak into the tight, dark corridor and steered him through several maze-like corridors adjoining the transporter room.

After what seemed like hours of navigation, they finally arrived in a rather large, open chamber with several coffin-like alcoves adorning all three walls. The Breen steered Zofchak toward the small group of Breen standing near one of the corner-alcoves. The Breen conversed amongst themselves for several minutes. Still without his communicator, Dustin understood none of their strident babble, but from the tone of their annoying voices, they weren't talking about sports. As the conversation came to a head, all of the Breen suddenly stopped chattering and turned their helmeted heads in Dustin's general direction. Zofchak's heart stopped as it jumped into his throat. His breathing stopped. His eyes seemed to be closing in on him. And before he knew it, the Breen had shoved him into one of the empty alcoves and closed him behind a forcefield of some sort. The Breen did nothing but watch from outside the alcove as Zofchak felt a bright light beating down upon him, and a faint tingling sensation throughout his body. Just when he expected some sort of crude medical instrument to start slicing through his body, it ended. All of it. The light turned off, the forcefield lowered, and the Breen dragged Zofchak out of the alcove and shoved him aside.

Curiously, the Breen were also deactivating the neighboring alcove. Thought the Breen were standing in his way, Zofchak was able to make out the distinct outline of something behind the forcefield in the alcove. As the energy barrier flicked out of existence, Zofchak watched in horror as the Breen extended their gloved hands to the emerging figure from the alcove. And what Dustin Zofchak saw almost literally scared him to death. A scaly hand. A scaly, reptilian face. A bony crest. A lock of haphazard black hair. A malevolent smile. A Jem'Hadar.

Dustin watched quietly from the shadows as the Breen swarmed around their new creation. They ran a plethora of medical scans on the Jem'Hadar before inserting a small container of Ketracel White into the soldier's uniform. The Jem'Hadar smiled malevolently as the substance started feeding into his body.

"Victory is life," he grunted.

The very sound of sound of his voice sent chills down Zofchak's spine. Aside from the fear, Dustin could feel anger build up inside of him. As a Starfleet officer he has been able to think rationally through his emotions and right now his anger would get him killed. The Breen chattered a series of disgruntled blips and bleeps at the Jem'Hadar after a few supplemental moments of revelry. The Jem'Hadar suddenly cast his eerie glare in Dustin's direction.

"The human?" he sneered.

The Breen continued their dialogue with the Jem'Hadar, this time a more prolonged conversation. Their creation said little during the entire exchange, little more than a few grunts or acknowledgments. But Zofchak understood none of it, as the Breen had yet to reissue him his communicator, or a Universal Translator. Until they did, he would be completely apart from any Breen conversations. Again, their chattering stopped, and the Jem'Hadar took several steps toward Dustin. The Breen slowly stepped aside, giving him a clear path to Zofchak . As the Jem'Hadar approached, Dustin took a few hesitant steps back. He knew he had little chance of avoiding the evil incarnate, but still, he tried to avoid conflict. Until he felt himself back into a wall. Upon seeing this, the Jem'Hadar smiled, and clenched his fists.

Sparhawk slowly awoke from his stun nap to find that the Breen were gone. His shipmates were still with him and the forcefield was still active but he saw no sign of the refrigerated aliens. Pushing that concern aside he looked over to the others. They were awake and sitting quietly in the middle of the erected field. Sparhawk sat up and scooted over to them.

"Where did our arctic friends scurry off to?" Sparhawk asked.

"They entered the structure some time ago," Plumley said. "They've been bringing equipment out as if they're salvaging what they can. They have not brought any of the bodies out though."

"I don't think they have the same regard for comrades that we do," Merriell said. "I would like to know what they did with Dustin."

"You're not the only one," Sparhawk said.

Hilary Kazarick had ended up down in main engineering to aquire the work of Dustin Zofchak's second in command, Hilary Kazarick.

"Lieutenant Commander Kazarick," he said upon spotting her working quietly at one of the auxiliary stations in the back of engineering.

Kazarick briefly glanced up from her work to see who was calling. Upon seeing the captain, she jumped to her feet, feeling really nervous at her sudden appearance. "What can I do for you, Captain?"

"At ease. No need to get worked up just because I showed up unannounced. Made any progress on the dampening field?"

Kazarick sighed. "No," she admitted. "We're too far away to make any difference in its intensity. But, given that extreme intensity, I don't think it would make any difference even if we were right on top of it."

The two of them looked at the layout of the field on the surface. Allensworth studied it carefully. Kazarick pointed out something on the screen. A tiny blip that had just surfaced. "It's near the last known position of the Breen," he noted.

Allensworth took a closer look. "It appears to be a cessation in their field," he said, not bothering to hide the suspicion in her voice. It seemed just a little bit too convenient.

"The technology the Breen brought to the surface may have something to do with it," Kazarick said. Allensworth was inclined to agree. Unless it was a sensor glitch, he had no other explanation for this sudden stroke of good fortune.

"We can use this to our advantage," he said. The idea in his head was a little radical but the clock was ticking. He knew the Breen could kill their hostages at any moment so he didn't have many options. He had to act. He straightend his posture and patted Kazarick on the shoulder. "Good work." He marched off, leaving Kazarick with a confused look.

"Thanks, but I didn't really do anything," she said quietly to herself.


	5. Chapter 5

_Victory is life._

The thought surged through Storgrath's mind over and over. He lived to serve the Founders. But the Founders were gone. The Jem'Hadar paused for a moment to consider the thought.

_ If the Founders are gone, whom do I serve? The target flinched. It tried to escape. That was not acceptable. Defeat is not an option._

Quickly, Storgrath stopped the fleeing target by placing a firm hand upon the Zofchak's stopped dead in its tracks and turned around to finally look death in the eye.

"What do you want?"

The Breen leader intervened and released Storgrath's grip on the target. He showed Dustin a Federation communication device before closing it in his gloved hand. "Isn't it obvious?" the Breen sneered through the voice being simulated by the translator in the communicator. "We want you."

"Me? Why?" Dustin exclaimed.

"The Breen have acquired the ability to clone new Jem'Hadar. But we require them to be efficient in defeating human targets. You are human. Using the cloning facilities, and your DNA sequences, we have extrapolated a Jem'Hadar which can summarily destroy any human target with maximum efficiency."

"But you also need Ketracel White," Zofchak said. "That's why you've invaded Sineron."

"It is. Soon, the Breen will have enough White to command legions of Jem'Hadar soldiers. What the Dominion started, the Breen shall finish. And we will start with you." Thot Lor gazed at his creation. "Storgrath, destroy him."

Moments later, Lor dropped the communicator on the floor and crushed it with the heel of his boot. As the delicate device shattered, Storgrath grinned. He turned to Zofchak and resumed his attack.

As the Starfleet officer burst down into the bowels of the ship, Thot Lor grinned mercilessly behind his mask.

_ Humans were weak and foolish, and they deserved every bit of agony inflicted upon them by the Jem'Hadar. Once this human was disposed of, the other four hostages should make for an equally interesting time._

Suddenly, one of Lor's subordinates approached him.

"Yes?" he inquired, turning his attention away from the hunt.

"Thot Lor," said the officer quietly, as if to keep from drawing attention to himself. "The Federation ship is moving. Heading zero-seven-six mark one."

The coordinates did not surprise Lor. "The planet," he bemoaned. "I had hoped to take the ship with its crew in tact for additional combat training for the Jem'Hadar. We will have to select a different target for that purpose."

"Then what are your orders?"

"Set an intercept course, destroy them."

"The Breen are coming about," Moran reported from the helm.

"They're locking weapons," Perim added a moment later.

Allensworth nodded. He had been anticipating such a maneuver. They wouldn't just let them waltz down to the planet's surface and reclaim the away team without a fight. But little did the Breen know what tricks were still up Allensworth's sleeve.

The Alexandria might take a minor beating, but given the crew's confidence about this plan, Allensworth was certain they would succeed in at the very least, keeping the Breen on their toes. "Evasive maneuvers, Ensign," he ordered before rising to his feet. "How far are we from the atmosphere?"

"About 300,000 kilometers," Hoyt said.

Allensworth slowly approached the Ensign from behind. "Have you ever flown anything larger than a shuttle into a planet's atmosphere?"

Moran smiled. "Not exactly," she admitted. "But, I am fully versed in the procedure."

"Being versed and being adept are two different things, Lieutenat," Allensworth reminded him. "Good luck."

Moran returned her attention to the controls. "Thank you, Captain," she mused.

Allensworth hastily returned to his command chair. "Steady as she goes!"

Dustin raced through the haphazard corridors of the Breen ship. Some lurched, twisted and turned, while others seemed to go on a straight path forever. But they were all drenched with an eerie green hue, and none of them provided ample cover from the rampaging Jem'Hadar several meters behind him. Zofchak would duck into a corridor, Storgrath was right behind him. He would try to double-back and loose the Jem'Hadar, but somehow, the vile hunter always ended up in front of him. But this wouldn't continue for much longer, and Dustin knew it. He was worn and tired. His feet ached, his back felt broken, and his heart felt as if it was about to leap out of his chest.

Furthermore, he had that annoying dry feeling in his mouth. Unfortunately, rest was not currently an option being presented by the Jem'Hadar. It was do or die. As he trotted through the corridors, Dustin could hear Storgrath drawing closer. He looked for a way out, or anything that could give him the advantage, if only for a moment. All he needed was a minor diversion. But nothing showed itself.

As a pale blue aura filled the bridge, Allensworth could feel the exosphere beginning to counter the Alexandria's shields. The viewscreen portrayed that feeling in an even more dramatic measure, since little more than a few stars could be seen amidst the glowing oranges and yellows of the descending starship. But so far, Moran seemed to be performing her duties more than adequately, as their ride had been a more or less smooth one. Marred by only one or two instances of turbulence, the Lieutenant's piloting skills seemed to be in perfect condition.

When suddenly, the ship was rocked by a massive explosion on its shields. The lights flickered momentarily, and Allensworth swerved about haphazardly before everything calmed down. "Report?" he demanded.

"It's the Breen," Perim said. "They've opened fire."

"Divert all auxiliary power to dorsal shielding," Allensworth ordered. "We don't have time to go and play with the Breen."

They fired again. This time, their burst of teal energy sailed past the Alexandria and plowed straight into the surface. The resulting explosion was hardly visible from this height, but given the fact that it was visible at all, indicated to Allensworth that the Breen weren't throwing rocks. He pressed a button on his arm panel "Can you get a lock on them yet, Hilary?" he asked.

Kazarick stood in the transporter room with the transporter chief toggling the controls.

"Not yet, sir" she said. "But I've got sensor readings…" Her voice trailed off upon seeing the readings.

"What?"

"I'm picking up four comm signals." She said.

"Can you get a lock on them?"

"I'm trying," Kazarick said amidst a barrage of error messages. "But we're still too far away. The Breen's dampening field is still too strong. We have to get closer."

"Boost the annular confinement beam," Allensworth suggested.

"No effect," Kazarick shot back. "We're going to have to descend even further!"

"Do it," Allensworth ordered, realizing they were in too deep now to turn back. They had nothing to lose, except five senior officers. And so, he sighed, and watched the Alexandria's descent into the planet known as Mirai Three.

Dustin Zofchak knew it would be too much longer before Storgrath would catch up with him. In fact, he believed the Jem'Hadar was attempting to lull him into a false sense of security by leaving him alive for this long. Dustin knew he would try something along those lines, and so, why wouldn't Storgrath? Panting furiously for breath, Dustin could feel the skin of evil bearing down upon him like a great, ominous force. Along with that sense of impending doom was a heightened sense of awareness. The adrenaline flowing throughout his body was giving way to the primal senses that drove every human being in a dire situation such as this. It was no longer Dustin in control, it was instinct. And instinct, in its infinite, great wisdom sent Dustin into a dark corridor nearby. It was a dead end.

For a moment, Dustin's better judgment took over, wondering why he had just doomed himself. But in that brief moment of clarity, he spotted a loose computer panel on the wall. If this ship were like any other, there would be a large dose of voltage behind that panel. Quickly, Zofchak scurried over to the loose panel and pried it from the wall. Behind it were a cacophony of conduits and similarly organic counterparts used to accommodate the organic parts of the ship. But he had no idea what conduit to pick. The flashing blue one looked tempting, but so did the shimmering red one running parallel to it. Ultimately, he chose the conduit most reminiscent of the rest of the ship, the murky green one running adventitiously through the middle.

As Zofchak ripped the conduit from the wall, Storgrath's shadowy figure appeared at the end of the corridor. The Jem'Hadar stood in silence for several moments before taking a few steps into the darkened passageway.

Dustin's grip on the conduit only tightened. It seemed like it would be a worthy implement of war, given the voracious stream of intense energy flowing out of the torn conduit's end.

Finally, Storgrath sprung into action. He stormed down the corridor at top speed. Dustin could feel the deck plates vibrating as the Jem'Hadar approached. But he failed to properly calculate Storgrath's speed, and before Dustin was ready to react, the Jem'Hadar violently pounced onto its target. Dustin squirmed rampantly as Storgrath began to pound him with his fists. But is efforts were futile. The first blow was a direct hit to his abdominal region. The next impacted his jaw, and the next, his chest.


	6. Chapter 6

The bridge was slowly starting to accumulate a fog of smoke as the Breen's repeated attacks began to take their toll. While the atmosphere prevented the Alexandria from returning fire, it also deflected most of the Breen's payload, it was that small amount that was not deflected that was wreaking havoc.

"Status?" Allensworth demanded. The ground loomed now closer than ever. They had to be in range.

"We're in range," Kazarick confirmed. "But I'm having trouble locking onto their individual patterns. There's just too much interference from the Breen's fire."

Allensworth sighed. They hadn't come all this way just to be stopped by a little excess energy. He touched his comm badge. "Medical team to transporter room three right away"

"On our way." A man's voice said in the place of Plumley's.

Four pillars of light shimmered into existance on the transporter pad just as the medical team arrived. Plumley, Sparhawk, Merriell and Fulks materialized on the platform. The medical team rushed to their side to assist them off the pad. Nycz touched her comm badge.

"Kazarck to Allensworth. Transport complete. We just need Dustin now."

"Understood. We'll get as close as we can to the Breen ship."

Things began to go dark. As the pain mounted, Dustin wasn't even sure where he was being hit. He gave resistance one last try before reaching the decision that the battle was lost. His hand stumbled upon the warm tube he instantly recognized as the conduit. At first, his hand refused to wrap around the conduit. It seemed to have shut down with the rest of his body, but upon a second attempt, Dustin was able to will it to function. His hand clutched the conduit and slowly started raising it upward. Storgrath, still engrossed in beating Dustin, didn't even seem to flinch, that was until the green energies of conduit surged into the side of his chest. The Jem'Hadar's attack stopped abruptly. Storgrath skittered to the floor with a series of involuntary jerks before crashing into the wall. Upon seeing that, Dustin dropped the conduit and wasn't done there. Fear had completely disappeared within Zofchak now it was anger, more like revenge. He mustered the energy he had left and charged at the Jem'Hadar. He flat out tackled him as if he was playing football. After pulling the Ketracel White tube from the Jem'Hadar, he clasped his hands together and repeatedly bashed them into the Jem'Hadar's face. As he unleashed on Storgrath's face, there was a face that entered his mind.

"Got him." Kazarick said. "Energizing."

Zofchak continued to beat the Jem'Hadar into submission as he and his opponent was taken in a blue swirl of light. Dustin continued to beat him even after re-materializing on the Alexandria's transporter pad. Plumley was still in the room. She, Kazarick and the transporter chief ran over to him and pulled him off the dead Dominion soldier. Zofchak was trying to break free and go at it some more. He wanted to take on the Breen next.

"Dustin, Dustin!" Plumley called. "Calm down, you're home."

Dustin then realized where he was and relaxed. He was just now comprehending that he had just unleashed on the Jem'Hadar and was back on the Alexandria. Kazarick hit her comm badge.

"Nycz to Allensworth, we got him."

"Helm, get us out of here. Full impulse." Allensworth ordered.

The Alexandria flew out of the atmosphere and into space. The two Breen ships were in pursuit. They flew on both sides of the ship firing at it. Allensworth figured he wasn't going to be able to get out of here without a fight.

"Helm, full stop," he said.

Even though confused, Lieutenant Moran did as she was told and commanded the Sovereign class vessel to stop. The two Breen vessels shot right past the ship. Allensworth stood ready waiting for the Breen to reappear. Allensworth saw two flashes of light and then the two Breen ships came into view.

"Bring us about and head for the anomaly," Allensworth said. "Maybe we can hide there from their sensors."

Sparhawk, Fulks and Merriell stepped onto the bridge and manned their stations. As they neared the anomaly, Merriell's console beeped at him.

"What is it?" Allensworth asked.

"I'm picking up multiple ships close to the anomaly."

"More Breen?"

"No, sir. I'm not detecting any power readings. They're derelicts. According to these readings, I'm picking up Federation and Dominion ships."

"Sir," Alex said. "I'm picking up similar readings as I did on the planet's surface."

"Could it be possible the Breen were developing an Omega molecule and it blew up in their faces?"

"It sounds reasonable," Alex said. "I don't understand the Federation and Dominion ships out here though?"

"Put it on screen," Allensworth said. The screen switched to the ships that floated aimlessly around each other. Some even collided with each other as if they were still doing battle.

"What in the…?" Sparhawk asked.

"It would appear that not all of dead were retrieved from the Dominion War." Allensworth said as he stepped closer to the screen. "The Virginia, the Atlantic, the Busan, the Athena, the Kearsarge, the Seattle. If I didn't know any better, I'd say we were looking at the long lost thirteenth fleet."

"I read about the thirteenth fleet." Zofchak said from his engineering station along the left side of the bridge. "They were sent out on a mission to try and get a foothold in the Gamma Quadrant during the war but were never heard from again."

"Why is the graveyard still here?" Nycz asked. "Shouldn't have someone come and retrieved the dead after the war?"

"Normally yes, but we never heard from the thirteenth fleet again. It looks like the Dominion suffered heavy losses in this battle as well." Sparhawk said.

"I thought the Cardassians were honorable enough to retrieve their own?" Merriell asked.

"They are but it would appear that this battle had no survivors." Allensworth said.

"No survivors? How could that be?" Nycz asked.

"Well, we may find out while were here. But first we need to hide from the Breen ships that are on our tail and while we're here find out what is causing the anomaly."

The Alexandria moved slowly through the graveyard. The bridge crew watched as they passed multiple derelicts.

"Looks like surrender was not an option here," Sparhawk said.

"We're nearing the center, sir." Merriell said.

"Full stop."

"Sir, sensors are detecting a rift off the port bow," Merriell said.

"On screen."

A large, blue-green field shifted in and out of visual range like ripples against a dark pond.

"I'm reading quantum level manipulation of the space time continuum through the field." Merriell said. "Gravimetric forces are getting stronger and starting to pull us in."

"Helm, back us off, full impulse," said Allensworth, sitting back down in the center seat.

"Aye, sir. Full reverse. No effect," Moran. "We're not moving away from it."

"Distance to the event horizon?"

"Nine hundred kilometers. Eight-fifty," Merriell said. "Damn, it's getting stronger. Seven hundred."

"Zofchak, can we go to warp?"

"We need to veer the bow off so we can point the ship away from the rift."

"Helm, hard starboard."

"Sir, the helm is not responding."

"Three hundred kilometers, Captain."

"Red alert. Full power to shields."

"Two hundred. One hundred."

Allensworth called out into the air. "All hands, brace for impact."

The Alexandria and its crew were pulled into the rift.

TO BE CONTINUED


End file.
